Just decided to drive over to Box Hill on the off-chance of seeing some of the riders. My lucky day (making up for mech hassles on early morning MTB)! Just as I drove up past the base of the hill, who should come past first? A yellow helmet and a pair of 'burns. Bradley first up plus several Team GB. Wow, so I decided to go and park and wait at the bottom of the ziz-zags:
So Team GB came past again and started milling about at the base - Wiggins, Froome and Cav (recognised). Then Germany with Greipel, then Cancellara, Sanchez and finally Sagan.
Wow, Greipel is a beast!! And I was struck by the size of the thighs (ok not surprising when you think about it) especially Cancellara. He looked incredibly fit and strong with massive thighs! Sagan and team GB looked more as expected. Fit, healthy and strong but with much less bulk. Girls were much slimmer apart from some little power rocket Japanese.
Quite a thrill really but as with the Olympics so far the enthusiasm is tempered by the realisation that the whole area is about to go under lock-down, attending the Road Race festival is a faff in terms of travel, no parking near the route etc. Compare that with Tdf!!
Funny to watch the amateurs trying to sneak on to the hill. Chapeau to the guy from Redhill CC who mingled well with the Portguese and made it at least 20m past the police and marshalls before his team shirt logo gave him away. Another guy cycled past Shere just as Team GB came by. Might be time to get the road bike out tomorrow and have another watch!
awesome 😀
Practice days are so good for getting up close and personal!
Must be hard to stay focused though, but Team GB did not respond to all our shouts of "Well Done" and "Good Luck". Still just happy that I was lucky with the timing.
Just planning where to watch now and realised they dont go over Newlands Corner - but the narrower Coombe Hill. That could be fun on the hairpin at that speed.
I was in Paris for the TDF, last Sunday. Broke a poper sweat walking about and trying to get a view of the race, when it eventually hit town. I was at the end of the Champs Elysee when the race finished, was about to go, but the police man gestured that the cyclists would be round once more. So, for ages, in the heat, we waited and sure enough, the teams all started to arrive at the hairpin to be photo'd.
Sky were the last team, but Wiggins didn't disapoint. He rode past initially, right up close, much to everyones delight. Then the team grouped for a photo. Then Bradley was hoisted onto the shoulders of some of the other riders, for more photographs.
Then, the people around me spotted Cav and started calling him. Cav didn't seem to want to play, but Bradley came back over, stopped the bike and gave us a few more seconds before going to see other parts of the crowd. He seemed like he was in a good mood, understandable given what he had just achieved.
Great stuff !.
Did you talk to any of them while admiring their rippling thighs?
Jon, I think that was why they shot off without talking!!! 😉
But watching the TDF on TV I was struck by how slim everyone looked, especially Wiggo, so it is interesting to see them in the flesh (in a non pervy way!!).
In addition, to the aura that surrounds pro athletes, there was a much more evident sense of pure strength in the legs. Greipel must have one helluva strong frame - he looked a bit like a typical Surrey Hills MAMIL!! Ok, not really!
It really is good to see athletes like that close up, why though (mini rant starting) as pointed out already the amount of security?, I know in the TdF we get plenty of stray dogs and the odd nutter running alongside annoying the riders (and this years carpet tack-gate)but the security for some of the events seems unreal when compared with an event the size of the tour.
I was trying to park in the centre of Newcastle on Tuesday near St James Park and the amount of precautions being taken seem mad. Car parks closed within the immediate vicinity of the stadium, hundreds of huge sand bags positioned round the streets (presumably to keep people and cars away?) Large metal gates preventing access. Newcastle play host to 50,000 people every other week for football matches without all the palaver. And dont get me started on the advertising clamp down 🙄
Sorry for the hijack teamhurtmore, hope you get to find a good place to watch for the race
Great pic just tweeted by Millar.
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slainte 😀 rob
The team kit looks good in the "flesh" as well, as does the Swiss and German ones. Sagan is in green that looks almost identical to his TDF stuff. Easy to spot.
What a great shot! Cav must be inside fetching a couple of cokes?
Is it normal for the TdF winner to keep wearing the yellow helmet after the race?
I suspect he should be in team GB colours... that might however be a not so subtle strategy so that people on the course have at least a chance of easily identifying him.
Right now he's just out for a ride with mates? so can wear what ever he wants...?
If I'd won the TdF I'd be wearing my yellow stuff to work for weeks afterwards 😀
Boss "Why aren't you wearing a suit?"
Me "Whatever"
In world championships they wear their own team helmets - and shoes, which they will often have individual sponsorship deals for - and their shorts have their trade teams name on. Don't know what the rules are for the olympics but no professional cyclist will want to change shoes before a major race.
Right now he's just out for a ride with mates? so can wear what ever he wants...?
This
If I'd won the TdF I'd be wearing my yellow stuff to work for weeks afterwards
and this
Very cool @teamurtmore. We were excited to see who we thought was the EDIT:[s]GBR mtb lady[/s]Annie Last (no disrespect intended) out training on the roads above Champery, we'd ridden past the van on the way down and she was riding up the hill in her GB kit.
No pics?!
Where's that pub?
Did no-one tell them there's usually a nice TEA and decent guest ale at the King Willy Micky bends?! (Don't tell me they were suckered into the Running Horses, please)
Very cool!
Seven Stars - just outside Ripley on the road to Byfleet by Newark priory
I'm not a stalker but would love to know where they are based. They've tweeted pics from there, from Ripley High Street ('Nest' cafe)....
Boss "Why aren't you wearing a suit?"
Me "Whatever"
brilliant!
If I'd won the TdF I'd be wearing my yellow stuff to work for weeks afterwardsBoss "Why aren't you wearing a suit?"
Me "Whatever"
Funniest thing for a while. The juxtaposition.
A colleague of mine was in the Grapes in Shepherds Market on Tuesday night and bumped into a part of the Japanese team and ended doing karaoke with the 1977 Japanese judo champion. The west end is heaving with Olympics stuff. The sun is out. Shame its going to be brilliant, I guess some doomsayers will be even more grumpy.
BMC were staying at the Burford Bridge yesterday evening when were out on the MTB. Out this evening. Lots of riders out this evening but no pros. Rode the route from Ripley up to Coombe bottom.
MrsG drive past the US team being motor paced on the dual carriage Dorking to L'head. She couldn't believe how fast they were going!!
OK, Ripley, not my manor. Ta anyway.
Cool
Singaporean and Swedish teams are training in the 50m pool in Guildford.
How greipel hauls his frame over the mountains is beyond me. He's a tank!
Have we had any minor nations caught training on the M3 yet ? 😀
Surely for the Olympic races they have to remove all sponsors logos from clothing?
Seriously though, do you reckon they had a pint or would that be strictly off limits?
Not talking about the size of pro cyclists thighs 😳 but the size of the arms, they would be crap at arm wrestling wouldnt they.
In world championships they wear their own team helmets - and shoes, which they will often have individual sponsorship deals for - and their shorts have their trade teams name on. Don't know what the rules are for the olympics but no professional cyclist will want to change shoes before a major race.
I can't be certain but I read somewhere a while back that they will wear their normal shoes for the cycling. There was an article saying that if Cavendish won, he may have to get up on the podium barefoot as the team is sponsored by Adidas but he has shoe sponsorship with Nike and neither wanted him wearing the others kit on the podium.
Edit: found the article
brad wiggins style guru
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Love that photo
#AllezWiggo for BBC SPOTY!
Love that photo
#AllezWiggo for BBC SPOTY!
Not only that- arise Sir Wiggo 😉